From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
Dear friend,
The answer is no.
Many posts online say that the copywriting is dead. You can find this on forums, blogs and even in books.
Copywriting is not dead. It is transforming. Yes, sales page formats may tend to change, to adapt to this new economy. Old long sales letters are not as effective as they were years ago because people tend to have a shorter attention span.
However, for all intents and purposes, they still work. When you are selling, you still need to counter objections, give reason why, build momentum, create desire through the benefits of your product and so on.
It does not really matter if it’s in a VSL or a 300 word copy or a 3000 word copy. It’s the same principle. Why? Because while the Internet may have changed a lot of things, we haven’t. The only major change is that we are fractionating information, that we are focusing more on small bits than on the big picture.
This is due to services like Twitter or YouTube. However, we still need to be persuaded and seduced into buying something. Forget consultative selling. Forget selling without selling.
Sales in essence are the same as they were three decades ago. So if you are wondering if you should use a sales copy, the answer is yes. It works and it will still work for a few years from now on.
Best regards,
Razvan Rogoz
From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
Dear friend,
What makes a good copywriter?
To be honest, it is not his ability to write. Yes, words are important. Words are damn important. It’s a vehicle to get your ideas and message across. But there is something more important than that. That is emotional intelligence.
What do I mean by emotional intelligence? The ability to understand how people function and most importantly, how you function. A copywriter is similar to a hacker. He must break into a system and change something. He must get his attention, resolve his objections, make him desire his products and finally, get the client to take action.
It’s similar to scanning a port, finding the right password, breaking the firewall, finding the right file to take and eliminating all logs.
This may offend a lot of copywriters who believe themselves as artists. We are not artists. We are business people. We are no different from the Wall Street broker pitching stocks on the phone or the sales person moving door to door. Yes, we require a bit more sophistication but we are not artists. We do not write to get awards. We write to sell.
And if you want to become a better copywriter, instead of keep copying sales letters by hand, develop your emotional intelligence. Go out in the world. Experience. Meet your prospect. Meet people who are obsessed with their weight to understand how the weight loss niche works. Meet 24 year old virgins to understand why the dating industry works. Go to a multi-level marketing meeting, sit through it two hours and network to understand how biz op work.
Copywriting is a skill learnt in the real world. Yes, I also encourage you to read a book or watch a course on copywriting for at least 30 minutes daily but the bulk of your work should be out there, not in front of your office.
It’s true, you can copy the masters, you can take every technique and strategy and apply it in a principle similar to “monkey sees, monkey does”. And it will actually work. It’s not that hard to sell. But until you understand the underlying principles of human nature, what makes people ticks, how we are these strange and wonderful creatures in the same time, you can’t win it big.
Agree?
Leave a comment in the box below.
Thank you,
Razvan
From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
Dear friend,
There is a slight confusion between features and benefits. These two concepts are the building block of sales copy and persuasion in general.
A feature is the physical aspect. The benefit is what it does.
Feature: Word processor
Benefit: It allows you to write your thesis
Feature: Wordpres
Benefit: It allows you to have beautiful sites without any HTML knowledge.
Feature: Glass
Benefit: It allows you to drink water from it.
Both features and benefits are required when you are trying to sell. The feature is the “thing that makes it happen” while the benefit is “what happens as a consequence”.
Best regards,
Razvan Rogoz
From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
Dear friend,
For a long time, I’ve made the classic error of thinking that copywriting is about creativity and writing. I’ve followed the old advice of writing sales letters by hand. I’ve read tens of swipe files. And I’ve done all of this with the purpose of writing like John Carlton or Clayton Makepeace.
I’ve recently discovered that copywriting is not so much about writing. Actually, only 20% is the writing phase. Instead, copywriting is listening to your marketplace, understanding their thought process and language, putting everything in a logical sales process and editing.
Practically, the copy is written for you, by the marketplace. Let me explain.
Most copywriting books we’ve studied are 10 – 20 – 30 years ago. These are books created for an environment without Facebook or Amazon.com. These are books that were practical at that time but are obsolete now.
Let me give you an example of what became obsolete. A few years ago, long copy always won. Long copy always outsold short copy. Or at least that’s what most copy gurus said.
Now, you need to write just as much to get your point across. We live in a world of Twitter and Facebook. We live in a world where multi-tasking is a norm. We live in a world where bullets are used everywhere to communicate (example, text messages or Twitter status updates).
So writing 30 pages is not a good idea anymore.
If the prospect knows you, knows who you are and trusts you maybe you need just a few pages to make your promise and prove it. If you are a stranger to him, maybe you need 25 pages. However, it’s important to write just as much as you need to make the sale.
Another tactic that changed is how we conduct our research. I don’t know if you’ve visit Amazon.com lately, but you’ll find your ideal prospect there. There must be at least one book similar to what you have and that book comes with reviews. Those reviews shows what the prospects wants, what he likes, dislikes and what were his expectations.
It even shows the language used, a very good tool when you are going to write the sales letter. So instead of doing the classical “hit and miss” research, do something better – go straight to the source and listen to your prospect.
Copywriting is changing. It’s becoming more and more marketing strategy. It’s not about how good of a writer you are but how good of a listener and strategist you can become. And this is the path in which I’ll invest in the next 12 months.
Become less of a good writer (God knows, I can hire a read-proffer for 0.5% of the project fee) and improve my marketing abilities, research better and focus on creating the copy from the marketplace and less from my head.
Razvan
From the desk of Razvan Rogoz
Dear friend,
If you have gained any real world experience as a marketer, then you know for sure that creating bullets (also called fascinations) is a must-have skill.
Sometimes bullets will make the sale alone for you … raising the emotional temperature (and tickling his greed glands) until the boiling point is reached … while other times is the perfect structure towards a persuasive argument.
In the next paragraphs, you’ll find out 8 bullets types (with examples), that can transform even the inexperienced and immature copywriter into a power-selling machine.
#1 – The “How To” formula
By far the most loved and hated bullet in the copywriting world, this simple formula plays on our biggest need … the one for curiosity. People wish to discover things that are appealing to them and their lives … especially when the answer to these bullets is something that they are actively looking.
#2 – The “Secret To” Formula
Almost everybody loves a good secret … but everybody wants to know what nobody else has access to. This gives them an advantage over their peers … society … colleges … or anyone else.
Two rules to creating a “secret bullet” though. The first one is not to overuse it. If you say secret after secret … then it isn’t a secret anymore? The entire value is based solely on scarcity. So please don’t use it more than 3 times in a letter.
The second one is that you should make the secret oriented towards the benefit your prospect will receive. It’s about something that is directly appealing to his life, but not commonly know.
Let’s see a few examples below:
#3 – The “Why” Formula
A bullet excellent for building intrigue in your prospect mind. The idea is simply – you promise to solve a mystery to your prospect … and show how the truth or solution has an huge impact on his life.
In other words, you are acting like an early warning radar to him … preventing him from doing something negative in the future (passive or active).
#4 – The “What” Formula
The “What” bullet is very easy. The basis of it is that you give instructions for a determined outcome. In other words, do this and you’ll get this.
For an extra touch, use curiosity or intrigue to keep your prospect hooked.
#5 – The “What Never” Formula
This type of bullet alerts him of a possible mistake (that he is already doing) … and promises information to protect him from the outcome of that mistake.
It is very efficient in most markets and can be used in almost any type of tangible product.
#6 – The “Number” Formula
This type of bullet it’s not a secret to anyone. It has been overused in almost any promotion known to man … starting from the “How to make friends and influence people” ad to the #1 product on ClickBank.
The number formula is best used when you have multiple ways of doing a particular thing … or multiple elements for a certain theme (secrets, advices, tips, etc). It is very easy to be done and it adds curiosity and a direct benefit to the reader.
#7 – The “Plus” Formula
Best used at the end of any promotion, adding stuff to satisfy his greed. Its basics come from infomercials where the hosts adds bonuses again and again … making the deal almost a no-brainer.
It also helps finish a bullet list with power and momentum …
#8 The “Right and wrong” Formula
I’ve first saw this used by Eben Pagan in his copy … leading the prospect on a path (that he thinks is right) and telling him that he is wrong. You must start with something he already believes … like common knowledge, and bust him that this is the wrong answer.
Also, imply that there is some benefit in knowing the right one.
What you should do now?
Well, go to your copy and see how you can implement at least a few of these bullets in your sales letter. Use the PLUS at the end … use the “Right … wrong” for some intrigue and the others for creating curiosity (and implying a direct benefit).
Let me know how that went.
Best wishes,
Razvan Rogoz